The mother of a 11-year-old girl, who died at Government Rajaji Hospital last month in a suspected case of dengue, has written to Health and Family Welfare Secretary and other top-officials alleging negligence and lack of transparency in treatment provided at the hospital.
In her letter, P. Muthupandi, a single mother from Kayampatti, claimed that during the two days her daughter was admitted to GRH, from the night of September 26 to the early hours of September 28, the doctors gave no information on her daughter P. Thiruselvi’s condition.
She blamed GRH for refusing to divulge the reason for Thiruselvi’s death and treatment summary despite multiple requests.
According to Ms. Muthupandi, the girl, who had fever and vomiting since September 22, was initially getting treated at a private clinic in Aiyar Bungalow area near her relative’s house. As the fever did not subside, a blood test was taken on September 25 as per doctor’s suggestion, which showed that Dengue NS1 antigen was positive and the platelet count was below normal at 1.1 lakh per cubic. mm.
After another test taken at a different laboratory the next day showed that the platelet count had reduced to 56,000 per cubic m.m., she was taken to GRH, where the doctors asked her to be admitted.
A. Chellapandian, Muthupandi’s elder brother, who happens to be with Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), alleged that though they showed the laboratory results and a written recommendation from the doctor of the private clinic that the girl needed treatment for dengue, the doctors at GRH were unmindful of that.
Claiming that platelet or blood transfusion was not done to her daughter, Ms. Muthupandi said that the family was kept in dark despite repeated enquiries with the doctors.
“On September 27, they obtained signatures from us without giving any reason and transferred my daughter to Intensive Care Unit and later declared that she was dead,” she alleged.
Stating that her daughter, who was in Class 6 at a government school in Y. Othakadai, was a bright student, Ms. Muthupandi said that her daughter could have been saved if GRH doctors were more careful.
C. Anandaraj, a health rights activist, who is assisting the family with the issue, alleged that it was unreasonable that GRH did not take the results of private laboratories seriously. “If the government is not trusting them, then why not properly regulate the private laboratories or seal them,” he asked.
Denying any negligence, a senior official from GRH said that they could not save the child despite best efforts since she was brought belatedly to the hospital after several days of fever.
“After the girl died, the family insisted on a report from us that the cause of death was dengue. We could not give that since dengue was not confirmed by our laboratory,” the official added.
